The Crucible Literary Analysis

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Humans can only take so much until they reach a certain breaking point. People will crumble filled with rage and commit many immoral acts. Once they execute these evil motives they must be punished. “You will give me your honest confession in my hand, or I cannot keep you from the rope.” (Miller,1272). A great example of this is the Salem witch trials. A few individuals may know it because of The Crucible. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, he conveys the corrupted decisions and processing in the justice system. Miller clarifies this through the irony of the characters involved in the court, who are presented adequate evidence, and are blinded by their reputation and self worth. He discloses the misconduct of authority in the events of “But now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom, and common vengeance writes the law.” (Miller,1246). The citizens who claim to be witches accuse others which will be hanged. The court fully believes the prosecutor and the victim will be hanged unless they confess. The court does not question if the accuser is lying or not. Thus the accuser can pick anyone they do not like to be hung. There is more irony when the excellency does not deal with lies. “‘Is that document a lie? If it is a lie I will not accept it! What say you? I will not deal in lies,’” (Miller,1272). In the play, the people who have confessed to being witches are lying because they want to live and/or get rid of people they do not like. Even given proper evidence that the so called “witches” are lying the court does not believe them. Humans can only take so much until they break the law. Once they break the law they must pay for their consequences. In Miller’s play, The Crucible, he explains the decisions and operations in the justice system. The events that interprets the main message is the horrible Salem witch trials and the characters of these events are filled with irony as they protect themselves. In all honesty with its bitter plot and beautiful writing The Crucible is what you define as corrupt

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